The World Bank Group President, David Malpass, lamented the escalating debt profile of the globe’s poorest nations, especially as it will attract $44bn to service in 2022 alone.
As the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) ended over the weekend in Washington DC, Malpass warned that the debt service expected in 2022 from the 174 International Development Association (IDA) countries (the poorest countries entitled to lending at concessionary rates), is now more than the combined resources of the Bank and IMF to these counties.
Malpass said the world now needs “to make progress on debt, debt reduction, and transparency”.
He also called for a debt “standstill for countries that are applying for Common Framework treatment; inclusion of all creditors from the beginning of the process; a more prominent role for debtor countries; earlier sharing of the parameters of debt relief and debt sustainability analyses; and finally, comparable treatment among official bilateral and commercial creditors using a common discount rate. We need much more progress on debt.”
Malpass urged that more attention should be paid on longer-term crises outlook which is mode state stand could be even slower, rather than just the short and immediate term of slower global growth that’s been weighing down countries, particularly, developing countries.
